The Four Temperaments of Mistral
by Trailblazer2500
Summary: Team RNJR stumbles into Haven Academy looking for answers and allies in the fight against Cinder, while at the same time looking for anyone with shared memories of their fallen comrade. With the help of Teams SSSN and ABRN, they get way more than they bargained for and along the way discover things they never knew about the Mistralian Champion.
1. Chapter 1

**My little attempt at creating a past for everyone's favorite crimson champion. I haven't really seen anyone else try to explore Pyrrha's past way back when she was in Mistral in detail. For this I went to Greek mythology, everyone knows that Pyrrha is based Achilles, that (in)famous fighter from the Trojan War.**

 **This fic is primarily drama, I'm trying to develop a backstory for Pyrrha, maybe give reasons for the things she does and her motivation for doing so.**

 **With that idea in mind, I set out to try to create a whole cast of OCs, nearly all of them based on some character from the Iliad and the alternate Greco-Roman mythologies surrounding the war. Hopefully those of who are well versed in the Trojan cycle will be enjoy the various references I've tried to put into the story.**

* * *

"Jump Ruby!" Jaune screamed as Ruby activated her semblance and dashed towards the edge of the cliff, a horde of Grimm on her heels. As she reached the edge, she jumped with all her might and fired several shots from crescent rose, the recoil propelling her upwards…

Just far enough to be caught by Jaune and pulled into the bullhead that was leaving the area.

"Oh man, that was close!" Ruby gasped out as she fell on the floor of the bullhead.

"Yeah, thank goodness we made it." Jaune sat down with his head in his hands.

"You guys are some lucky bastards I'll give you that." Scarlet smiled.

"Yeah thank goodness we answered your call, who knows what might've happened if we didn't." Sun nodded, Team RNJR smiled at Team SSSN.

Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity on the road, place to place, village to village, fighting Grimm on and off, getting lost on occasion, long nights spent crying in memory of their fallen friend.

They were finally on their way to Haven Academy.

"So what can we do for you guys? Need a shower or food or a place to sleep or something?" Sun grinned.

"Yeah…actually," Jaune took a golden circlet out of his satchel bag as he tried not to heave, "we were wondering if you knew anyone who would've known Pyrrha well before she came to Beacon, something to pass on to them."

"Er…well…" Sun scratched his head, "any ideas guys?" He looked at the rest of the team.

"I suppose you could look for her old mentor, Pallas Minerva." Neptune replied with a shrug.

"Of course! I don't know Pyrrha well but I do know she trained under Pallas Minerva for a while." Sun nodded.

"Who's she?"

"Ruby let me just tell you straight that she is a _goddess_ in mortal form, she is Mistral's single greatest Grimm slayer and teacher, every one of her students is like, some Grimm-slaying badass that can fight like ten thousand Grimm in a day and come out none the worse for the wear." Sun nodded sagely and folded his arms.

"Whoa." Ruby went wide-eyed at that.

"You're not just blowing hot air at us are you?" Jaune gave a skeptical look and then went quite green.

"Nope!" Sun shook his head, "You'll believe it when you see it for yourself."

Not too long later, the bullhead touched down at a landing pad in Haven, both Teams exited the craft with Jaune leaning on Ruby for support. The instant his feet touched solid ground he dashed over to a nearby trash can and dry-heaved into it, his stomach being empty from a lack of food out in the wilderness. At the same time, the rest of Team RNJR took in the sights.

Unlike Beacon Academy which had been built at the edge of a cliff, Haven had been built into the side of a large mountain range with the CCT peeking out over the top of the range, compared to Beacon; Haven more resembled a towering castle in its appearance. It even had a long wall that appeared to have battlements at the top surrounding the entire place.

"Welcome to Haven Academy." Sun turned to look at them and threw his arms out in a welcoming gesture. Team RNJR's eyes were wide with awe as they looked around them.

"Come on, we'll take you to the Professor, she's probably watching over a bunch of sparring sessions now." Sun gestured for them to follow, they walked through several open corridors and past several structures before they came upon an open-air space where several students were sparring with one another. At one side they found who they were looking for.

Pallas Minerva wore long white robes around her that exposed her arms; she had long, curly brown hair and had a face that –although clearly worn from time and battle- radiated wisdom and strength. She was watching over several students sparring with each other in the large space.

"Professor Minerva!" Sun called out as they approached, she turned her head to regard them.

"Is there something you need Mr. Wukong?" She gave a faint smile.

"Yeah," Sun gestured to Team RNJR, "these guys are friends of mine from Vale, they came here on their own after Beacon fell, and they ah…have some bad news." Sun gave a look.

"Ah, so these are the hunters that escaped from Vale, it is a wonder that you have made it so far and so well on this long journey away from your home, I daresay that it is a pleasure to host you here, though I believe we both wish it were under better circumstances." Minerva greeted with a bow of her head.

"The pleasure is ours Professor Minerva, thanks for having us." Ruby gave a little nod in acknowledgement.

"And what tidings do you bring here from Vale? I doubt that you come to us as mere messengers, the last that I heard from Mr. Wukong here was grim news indeed."

"Yeah, that was a madhouse." Sun shivered a little.

Jaune explained as best as he could the events of that night after the tournament, the battle of Beacon, the vault, Cinder receiving the Fall maiden's power, ending with Pyrrha chasing her to the top of the tower and to her death. Ruby, Ren and Nora filled in the various parts as best as they could with Team SSSN adding in their own experiences, throughout their explanation Minerva maintained a mostly impassive face, only merely nodding appropriately at various points in their story.

"Ah I see…" Minerva paused as a solemn expression passed over her face, "well this is…troubling news indeed, I had hoped in the aftermath of her battle with that strange android that she would find her own way out of the chaos, rather than get sucked into it." The aged woman sighed and turned away.

"And so what will you do now hunters of Vale? I can offer temporary lodgings if you wish." She said.

"We were actually hoping to find any hints as to the whereabouts or her killers, we know they came to Vale disguised as Haven students, that and…return this to her family or any friends she had, maybe give her a proper funeral." Jaune fingered the tiara.

Minerva nodded, "I will look into the matter for you, as for Pyrrha…well…" The woman sighed, "if you knew Pyrrha then you must've known that she had few to no friends here, the pedestal on which others placed her was high indeed, and yet…" She trailed off again and had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Yes," She furrowed her brow, "if there is anyone who at least deserves to know of her fate than _he_ of all the people she ever knew deserves it."

"Who's _he_?" Ruby asked.

"You'll find out soon enough little rose, Ms. Altan come over here for a moment!" Minerva called out to a dark-skinned blonde off in one corner; she stopped what she was doing at that moment and quickly made her way over to the group.

"You called ma'am?" Arslan said.

"Yes, I need you to find me everyone's favorite student." Minerva deadpanned.

" _That guy?"_ Arslan made a disgusted face on hearing that, "What're you looking for him for ma'am?" she asked as Team SSSN rapidly disappeared from the scene without anyone noticing.

"It is not I that is looking for him Ms. Altan, rather _they_ are." Minerva gestured to Team RNJR, Ruby's eyes lit up.

"Hey, aren't you the…" She scratched her head to try and remember where she had seen Arslan before.

"The one you faced at Vytal? That's me Arslan Altan, it's good to see you again Ruby, I'm sorry we couldn't do more to save Beacon." She nodded apologetically.

"It's alright, what's done is done." Ruby smiled back.

"Getting back to the matter at hand Ms. Altan, they have brought grave news to Mistral," Minerva sighed sadly, Arslan raised her eyebrows and waited for an explanation, "Pyrrha Nikos, champion of our kingdom, fell in battle against the accursed witch who ruined the tournament." Minerva finished.

"I…see…" Arslan hung her head, "well if our champion is gone then what happens now?"

"Well with the CCT down it fell to us to bring the news back and try the hunt for her killer here in Mistral, do you know of any close acquaintances she had?" Ren asked.

"Well like I said there is just one left who could claim to have known her on a personal basis." Minerva gave a look at Arslan, who promptly took a step back and raised her hands, the look of disgust returning.

"Hold on a minute ma'am, as much as I would love to a help, I fail to see how-"

"If there is someone who would yet mourn her _truly_ for the person she was, then there are no others save for him and her family." Minerva replied tersely.

"But…do I have to?" Arslan hung her head and clenched her fist; Minerva put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"If there is anyone who deserves to know her fate, it is he. Go now, find Argent and bring him here."

"Why don't you just call him yourself?" Arslan rolled her eyes.

"Because it is quite likely that he has gone to take a nap somewhere outside the academy grounds and therefore, it is _most unlikely_ that he would answer _any_ call from anyone, so go on then." Minerva returned the eye roll.

"Fine, but I'll need backup, hey Bolin! Reese! Nadir! Get your butts over here!" Arslan called out. And very quickly, the other three members of Team ABRN were in front of her.

"Present and accounted for leader." Reese nodded.

"Right for today, we…need…to…go…find…" Arslan forced out every single word out of her mouth, and then gave a strong inhale to get ready to force out the name that was groaned out everywhere in Haven.

"Find…?" Reese raised an eyebrow.

"Argent." Arslan let out in a single short gasp, and instantly BRN was in uproar.

"OH NUTS TO THAT!" Reese shouted.

"A most troubling prospect." Nadir nodded in agreement.

"Is there _nothing_ better to do?" Bolin asked with a heavy sigh.

"Alright calm yourselves all of you! At this instant!" With those words Minerva quelled the momentary racket, "Pyrrha Nikos has perished in battle, dying to try and buy time to save more lives, if anything, her comrade at least deserves to know of her fate."

"Is he even her comrade? No offense ma'am but I never got the sense they were close in any way." Reese raised her arms.

Minerva sighed loudly, "Look, I know I've asked a lot of you for him Arslan, but please just at least do this one thing, not for me or him but in the memory of our champion."

Arslan gave a dejected look and a sigh of resignation, "alright ma'am, come along guys, let's look for _that guy_." And so with a loud and exaggerated groan from Reese and an equally loud and exaggerated sigh from Bolin, the group set off to search for the one called Argent.

"Hey where did Team SSSN go?" Ruby asked, looking around for them.

"Probably ran for it the instant they figured out what we were doing." Arslan snorted.

"So who is this _Argent_ person? I don't think Pyrrha ever mentioned him, is he like her…err… _boyfriend_ or something?" Ruby asked, Jaune twitched a little at the word 'boyfriend'.

"That's what _celebrity gossip_ would have you believe, Argent Evnooú is first and foremost Pyrrha Nikos' primary _rival_ in the Mistral Regional Tournament, so whether or not they were closer than that is a matter for him to explain." Arslan replied.

"Rival? Wait how come we're just learning of this?" Nora wondered.

"Well you know what they say," Bolin shrugged, "no one ever remembers second-best."

"No I mean like, how come Pyrrha never mentioned him? Like ever?" Nora corrected.

"Who knows? Maybe he's a bad memory she'd rather not ever bring up in front of other people, I mean _I_ certainly wish _he_ was _nothing_ but a bad memory." Reese shook her head.

"If he's such a horrible person how do you know him anyway?" Jaune questioned.

"We have a _working_ relationship with him; he has no team of his own so he usually goes on joint team missions with others, most can't stand him though, Professor Pallas attaches him to other teams so that he can still make the grade" Bolin explained, "he seems to be nicer to us on a whole though, so I guess that works for us?" He shrugged.

"Is he that bad? And how can you go on joint team missions with one other person?"

"Cuz he's a whole team on his own, he's that damn good. And he's got an attitude about him that damn near no one can put up with." Reese complained.

"A whole team huh?" Jaune looked downcast, recalling the time when Pyrrha had faced Team CRDL on her own. It had only been months and yet it felt like several lifetimes had passed since those days that they would never have back.

"He used to owe us a few favors here and there for us allowing him to piggyback on some of our missions; it was the foundation of our _working_ relationship, so he should at least listen to me." Arslan stated.

"I thought it was just because he liked Reese." Bolin remarked.

"Aw shut up Bolin! As if I'd ever like that sort of person back." Reese protested and stuck her tongue out.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they walked. Eventually, they reached and passed the courtyard, exiting the academy grounds and into a wooded area, a river ran by the side of the academy, and a cool breeze blew through the area. It was a peaceful and serene sight; it certainly reminded Team RNJR of their own Beacon Academy in Vale, now little more than a pile of ruins in the aftermath of the battle.

"Y'know as much as we kinda hate the guy, you gotta admit he has good taste, I can see why he takes naps out here." Reese noted.

"Yes, the area where our academy was chosen to be built was meant to be a place was calm and serenity, a _haven_ and a sanctuary for those seeking a place far from any kind of conflict or chaos." Nadir smiled.

"He can't be that bad a person if he likes the peace and quiet, I mean even if he is a major jerk or something I can't see how a bad person would like this place." Ruby commented.

"It's the other way around Ruby; it's a place like this that can make even a person like him enjoy it." Nadir corrected.

"Well regardless of all that, I think I see him." Arslan pointed out a lone figure in the distance.

It was a tranquil scene, the man wore the standard uniform of Haven academy, he was lying down on his back on the short slope of the embankment in the shade of a large tree. Below him the river went by at an even pace, a muted rushing of water. The trees rustled a little from the wind blowing, leaves falling down over the group.

It was a near picture perfect scene.

As they drew nearer to the man, Arslan spoke, "Let me go first, he doesn't take all that kindly to any random strangers trying to talk to him so I'll try and…well…I guess 'soften' is a little weird but you get my point?" She looked at them.

Ruby nodded, "sure, we'll just wait for you here."

"Hey get up you lazy asshole, you've got some visitors." Arslan walked up to the man and stopped a little distance away, folded her arms and spoke to the man. To Team RNJR's surprise the man turned on his side away from Arslan with an annoyed growl.

"Go the fuck away Arslan, I already paid you back your fifty lien." He answered with no small amount of irritation in his voice.

"Didn't you hear me you idiot? It's not me that's here for you today, you've got _visitors_." Arslan strongly _emphasized_ the last word in her sentence.

"I don't recall hiring you as a secretary, but would you kindly tell them to go away for me? I'm not taking challengers today." He talked right back without so much as a pause between the two. As the two went back and forth a few times, meanwhile the rest of the group stayed a short distance away, remaining within total earshot of their conversation.

"Whoa he…he doesn't seem very friendly." Ruby frowned upon hearing the exchange.

"No, he's not," Bolin sighed, "On the other hand besides family, I don't think anyone else can claim to be as close to Pyrrha as he is, or rather _was_."

"I find it hard to believe that a person like that could be close to Pyrrha." Jaune snorted.

"Yes it does seem strange; I suppose in the course of your stay here you may very well end up digging up old skeletons in dusty closets." Nadir smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jaune railed on Nadir who merely gave him a look.

"I'm saying that you might end up finding things you might not have wished to find, Pyrrha Nikos may have been a public figure but she kept her private life closely guarded, I doubt if even you can say you truly know her at all." Was the reply, Jaune looked away, it was kind of true in that regard, Pyrrha had only been his partner for a couple of months before the fall of beacon, in that time…what had he learned about her? That she did not like being put on a pedestal, that is had isolated her, and that she believed in destiny as a goal to be worked towards…which got her killed by that flaming bitch.

"Arslan seems to be keeping her distance though." Ren noted.

"Yeah well, I mean he _is_ a very dangerous person, _I_ wouldn't go even as near to him as our leader is now." Reese shrugged.

"Dangerous how? Like dangerous as in, could be a threat to our lives dangerous or dangerous like _cool_ dangerous?" Nora asked.

"How 'bout, dangerous like _the only person_ who ever put Pyrrha Nikos on her ass in a fight?" Reese raised her eyebrows and looked at Nora, Team RNJR stared at her for a moment before she continued, "dangerous like if Pyrrha Nikos is the 'invincible girl' then Argent Evnooú is the 'favored of the gods', dangerous like _before_ Pyrrha Nikos was the invincible girl _he_ broke then three-time champion Mars' record and threw him out…in the quarter-finals." Reese seemed to shudder a little.

"Wait, which regional tournament would this have been?" Ruby asked.

"The one where Pyrrha started her winning streak of course," Reese replied airily, "they faced off against each other in the finals. If I recall correctly it was a battle for the ages, Pyrrha won _obviously_ , but it was such a close fight those who can still remember it think it might've been a draw instead." Reese took a breath, "I've seen some of the replays and _I_ can tell it was spectacular watching the two go at it."

"Whoa, he must be a very strong fighter." Ruby responded with awe, even Jaune gave a bit of a hard gulp at that, Pyrrha had put him down more times than he cared to count in their long training sessions together, and then there was her four-on-one fight with Team CRDL, and also her match with Penny, for _someone else_ to be capable of putting her down in turn, it immediately spoke volumes of their capability to them as people who had already witnessed Pyrrha's skill.

"It was the biggest upset in the history of the tournament," Bolin nodded, "at the time Mars had been the favorite to win the tournament, I remember people everywhere thought that there was no way some upstart _children_ were going to fight in the finals, while those are all old memories now, some still believe Pyrrha might not have won the tournament if Argent hadn't put Aerite down first."

"Yes yes for the five millionth time I heard you so please just go away and let me enjoy the peace and quiet." They turned back to watch Arslan and Argent, Argent maintained a completely dismissive tone in his voice as he made a shooing motion with one hand.

"I just said Pyrrha Nikos is dead and her friends are here, did you not even care at all?" Arslan growled indignantly as she grit her teeth, as always Argent was the most impossible man in the whole of Remnant, the world could be falling apart at the seams and he would be more concerned with finding a place to sleep.

"Yes yes," He waved her off, "I'll give a damn about them and her some other day now leave me in peace." So saying he lifted a book from his side, opened it to a random page and put it on his face. Arslan's eyebrow verily twitched, but she clawed herself down to calmness and stormed back to the group.

"Well I give up," Arslan threw her hands up into the air and looked apologetically at Team RNJR, "sorry but I don't think he's in a talking mood at the moment." She gave a weak smile.

"Why didn't he react when you said it was about Pyrrha? Aren't they supposed to be close?" Ruby lifted an eyebrow.

"They're as close as rivals are close Ruby, I don't think he believed me, or maybe he genuinely doesn't care anymore, who knows? I think maybe we should wait a while before-"

"Wait a while? For what?" Jaune asked in an annoyed tone, he was getting sick of the strange dissonance in his head. Pyrrha, kind, humble, all-loving Pyrrha was a companion to this cocky, arrogant, and downright rude man? It did not make the least amount of sense to him, there was no way in hell Pyrrha could have been a friend to this… _this person_.

So with that thought in mind, he stormed right up to Argent, who had seemingly gone right back to sleep once Arslan had left.

"Jaune what're you doing?" Ruby asked in a shocked tone.

"Hey! What do you think you're-" Arslan tried to stop him but Jaune shoved her right away and stopped right in front of Argent.

" _Do you believe in destiny?_ " Jaune hissed out angrily as he glared at the lackadaisical man who had seemingly gone right back to sleep in front of all of them.

Instantly, the mood changed.

To everyone's complete surprise, in response Argent then proceeded to raise one hand, gripped the book tightly and lifted it of his face just enough so that everyone could see him return Jaune's glare with an even fiercer one. Jaune himself was surprised by the reaction but would not falter as Argent finally pulled the book from his face after a moment and stared right at Jaune, light brown eyes boring holes into blue ones.

" _I hate that thing the most."_ He spat back with a voice full of venom and fury.

* * *

 **The fandom loves to portray Pyrrha as the Goddess of Victory, this hasn't always sat well with me, so I went and decided to portray the _actual_ goddess of victory.**

 **Pallas Minerva's identity is of course incredibly obvious, none other than the Greek Goddess of Wisdom Athena (Sometimes called Pallas Athena, Nike Athena etc.).**

 **I'd say that Argent's mythological basis is pretty obvious with the hints that I have given, but only for anyone with a better than passing knowledge of** **the Iliad, you'd probably need to be an enthusiast at least to be able to figure him out, this is because compared to those around him this guy is pretty obscure, but I'm sure _someone_ will figure it out. I can't possibly be the only Greek Mythology enthusiast in the fandom.**

 **That said, I look forward to seeing you guys guess his identity.**

 **All your reviews, favs and follows are appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

Jaune and Argent stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Argent spoke.

"So where is she then?" Argent quirked an eyebrow with a smug smirk, "Is she hiding somewhere? Too afraid to come out and talk to me face to face? Did you perhaps come here as her messenger?" He taunted while maintaining a vicious smirk on his face.

"Here we go." Arslan sighed, "I hope your pal knows what he's doing, although thankfully Argent doesn't get angry that easily."

Jaune grit his teeth, clenched his fist and bit back his anger to force out, "she's…dead, killed by the same woman who hijacked the broadcast during the Vytal-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there because I have absolutely no idea who you're talking about." Argent interrupted.

Jaune could feel his control slipping from his grasp, "What do you mean you don't know?!

"I wasn't watching." Argent stated as if it was the most obvious fact in the world.

Jaune furrowed his brow, "What do you mean you weren't-"

"Did I stutter? I said _I wasn't watching_ , are those three words that difficult to understand? Do I need to give you a dictionary to figure it out?" Argent sarcastically remarked.

"I-"

"Alright I guess we're getting nowhere if you're just going to stutter at me so I'll just ask the most obvious question hanging in the air, how did she die?"

Jaune took a deep breath and calmed himself; Argent was really grinding and grating on his nerves now, but he forced himself to keep level and steady as he explained as much as he knew from Ruby. Throughout the explanation, Argent remained solemn and stoic, never once giving a hint of emotion from the story and for a moment Jaune thought that he might finally have gotten through to the man…until his next words fell out of his mouth.

"So tell me, did she accomplish anything in the end?" Argent asked with the most mocking innocent Jaune had ever heard.

"W-what?" Jaune asked.

"I mean did her death accomplish anything at all?"

"Well…" Jaune struggled to think of something,

"Pyrrha had died to buy time for others to escape and evacuate." He stated as strongly as possible, after all that was why she had died…had she not?

"And yet the CCT still fell, Beacon is in ruins as far as I can tell –and is now a den of Grimm I might add- and Vale is a complete mess isn't it?" Argent rolled his eyes, "so I'll ask you again, did her death accomplish anything at all?"

Jaune wanted to say that in the end, it was her sacrifice that enabled Ruby to unlock her powers –powers that they were still struggling to understand- and that had defeated the dragon and sealed it away, defeated Cinder and prevented her from achieving anymore and taking anything more than she already had. But he had been specifically cautioned not to be open about it lest their enemy take further notice of it.

Wanted to say that it had made him stronger, made him more dependable in the year since the fall, and yet there was no one but his own teammates to judge him for that.

Instead, he could only remain silent, Argent however, did not.

" _Fantastic_." Argent deadpanned, "now find somewhere to put that trinket of hers and leave me alone _please_." He lay back down on the grass and placed the book back over his face.

Jaune had had enough and snapped; he was not going to let this person, whoever he was demean his partner any longer, who had given her life to try and save them all, "How dare you…" He growled as his hand gripped Crocea Mors tightly, Ruby's eyes widened as she saw what was happening.

"Jaune stop that-!" She called out and tried to run forward but was blocked by Arslan.

"Argent will be fine; it's your friend I'm worried about!" Arslan growled, "Reese get him out of there." She ordered, but nothing happened, she looked at the hover-boarder and was gobsmacked.

"Reese!" She yelled at the girl who was frozen in place.

"Err…" Reese was stuck, she really wanted to help out since Jaune looked like a kind of decent and handsome guy and all but she also really did not want to get into a confrontation with Argent.

"Now Reese!" Arslan yelled.

"OK OK!" Reese responded and jumped onto her hoverboard.

Too late, Jaune unsheathed his sword in one swift move and brought it down on Argent, "Don't insult Pyrrha like that!" He shouted as he stabbed it downwards.

To everyone's complete amazement, Argent spun the book on his face around, and easily caught Jaune's blow without any visible effort, before the blade could slide all the way through the book he redirected it so that it stabbed into the ground beside his head. Grabbing hold of Jaune's own hand on the sword to hold him in place, Argent lashed out with a brutal kick to the face, sending Jaune spiraling and rolling down the embankment.

As Jaune struggled to get up, Argent rose slowly to his feet and strode rapidly over to where Jaune was getting up.

"All hail Pyrrha Nikos, our savior and lady who shall save us all from the darkness." Argent hissed out, Jaune gave a cry in anger and charged at Argent with his fist raised. Argent caught the blow and head-butted Jaune, sending the knight reeling back, Argent maintained his grip and snapped Jaune right back into a clothesline, leaving the knight gasping right at the edge of the river and Argent standing over him.

"That's enough Argent!" Arslan lashed out with her rope dart, striking mere inches from Argent's foot, Argent did not even shudder at the insult and merely glared at her. Simultaneously to that Ruby dashed up to him.

"Wait wait there's no need to fight! We're not here to fight!" Ruby pleaded with raised hands. Argent scoffed on hearing that, turned and walked away as Ruby helped Jaune up, Argent wrenched Crocea Mors out of the ground and tossed it to Jaune's feet.

"Your friend seems to think otherwise little lady." He was addressing Ruby now with narrow eyes.

"Pyrrha is… _was_ his partner, and a dear friend of ours." Ruby explained with a grim look, even she could not help but feel irritation and anger at this man who happily disrespected and spat on the memory of their friend.

"Oh that's just _perfect_ , well since you're so nice I'll give you leeway and ask this of you," Argent leaned on one leg and folded his arms, "what can this hunter-in-training do for you today?"

"Weren't you her friend too? I know you two probably didn't see each other much, but aren't you the least bit saddened by her death?" Ruby tried to keep the demanding tone out of her voice and restrain herself.

"Me? A friend of Pyrrha Nikos? Who the hell ever gave you that idea?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Well Professor Pallas said-"

"Oh right Professor Pallas, well never mind then, since you've disturbed my nap and ruined my mood for the rest of the day, I'll just be off now." He turned and marched away.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ruby finally exploded, "we're trying to be nice here, we're trying to find out more about our friend, we're trying to see if anyone could help set up a proper funeral for her! Why the hell can't you just cooperate and quit it with the sarcasm for more than five seconds?!" She demanded.

"How did Pyrrha even become your friend?" Jaune finally found his voice as he grit his teeth, "the Pyrrha I know would never have been a companion to an atrocious person like you!" He shouted.

"Ah see? And that's where our points of view diverge; it's the _Pyrrha you know,_ not the _Pyrrha that I remember_. But let's take stock of the differences then, why don't you tell me about the _Pyrrha you know_ and I'll tell you about the Pyrrha I remember huh?"

"Pyrrha…is… _was_ our friend and one of the kindest, most compassionate, intelligent and caring person that I've ever met." A bare moment of silence followed

And then Argent exploded into peals of laughter.

"Oh really? You can't have met very many people then har har, guess getting away from us all changed her after all," Argent scoffed and looked at them smugly, "would you believe Pyrrha was once upon a time a cocky, arrogant, and utterly _selfish_ person?" He was now glaring at them.

"What? How dare you-?"

"How dare I? You've known Pyrrha for _scant months_ and…" Argent stopped and inhaled sharply.

"And you _pathetic and worthless messenger worm_ have the _gall_ to come here and tell me that you knew more about Pyrrha in your few months of knowing her then I did in the _years_ that I fought her endlessly from one tournament to the next? One sparring match after another again and again a thousand times over?!" Argent spat, it was more a demand than a question.

"I know enough." Jaune growled out, "I know that you put her on a pedestal and showered her with so much praise and love that no one ever dared venture with her again! I know that you left her on her own, that she must have been too good for you to be friends with! That you abandoned her and left her alone!" Jaune yelled.

That triggered something in Argent; a wild gleam appeared in his eye.

"Us? US? Abandon… _her_?" Argent hissed out every word as he glared at Jaune so hard that the knight would have caught fire and burnt into ashes on the spot if Argent had willed it.

"She! Abandoned! Us!" Argent growled out, rage, pain and sorrow equally mixed into one frantic, hysterical and desperate cry seemingly directed at no one. Team ABRN's eyes looked like they were about to fall out of their sockets.

 _ **Years ago, three months after Pyrrha's second victory in the Mistral Regional Tournament**_

"I'm really really sorry guys but I don't think I can come, my manager sprung this interview on me with _Homer Tonight_ so I can't make it." Pyrrha's voice sounded.

"No problem Pyrrha, we understand."

 _No we don't._ Argent thought at the last moment, he had a hard time controlling the irritation in his voice.

"Maybe next time ok? See you guys!" And the scroll cut off.

"Well that's that then, what now?" Argent tossed his scroll onto the table and looked at the other two seated with him at the same table. They were currently lounging about nonchalantly in a café, hoping that their lone female companion would join them soon.

"Think she'll ever come around?" Ord Yule asked.

"Probably, maybe sometime next year?" Argent joked.

"Ah who cares about her? We should just go out and have our own fun instead, who needs a girl like her with men like us?!" Haldis cheered; the other two regarded the thought silently.

"She's still one of us though; I don't want to leave her out of the lurch like this." Argent sighed.

"Well suit yourself then, hey Ord, wanna go crack some Grimm out in the wilds?" Haldis Ischyros grinned.

"Yeah why not? I don't have anything better to do anyway," Ord got up and looked at Argent, "you coming man?"

"Nah, I'm just…" Argent got up slowly, "gonna go somewhere else for a bit."

"Well…suit yourself, let's go Ord." Haldis tapped Ord's shoulder and walked off, Ord cast a long glance at Argent, who smirked and nodded.

"Have fun Ord."

Argent made his way back to their training grounds slowly, a clearing in front of a large house that belonged to their mentor, one Pallas Pallas, the great huntress of Mistral herself. He found their master lounging silently on the porch of her house, sipping tea quietly with a plate of biscuits at its side, she raised a curious eyebrow as she watched one of her four apprentices open the gate and walk inside and up to the front steps, stopping just shy of them to look at her.

She spoke first, "I do believe I told you and the others that you had the week off, it's not healthy to train all the time, and so you need a break before your mind decides to break." She explained tersely.

Argent remained silent.

Pallas took this as a signal to continue talking, "So where are the rest of your comrades? I'd believed that you would all have decided to spend quality time together, or was I wrong on that account?"

"You were." Argent said tersely.

"Enlighten me child."

"Pyrrha decided to go and spend some time with someone named 'Homer tonight'."

"Ah the talk show host, quite an entertaining man I must admit, but where did Haldis and Ord go?"

"To the wilds to 'crack some Grimm' in Haldis's words."

"You did not join them?"

"No, I…didn't feel like it…just killing a few beowolves or Ursa isn't going to make a difference is it?"

"So what's on your mind then?"

"…"

"Is it Pyrrha?" A statement more than a question.

"…" There was the barest of acknowledgement.

Pallas sighed; she knew how Argent often felt about the resident two-time champion and comrade-in-arms. It was tiresome for him to endlessly have to deal with the same person who broke his own dream for achieving the championship…twice in a row. Having to endlessly be compared to her, having to watch her bask in the glory and triumph that he himself desired so much, having to watch others almost worship her prodigal talents. It probably would have been easier for him to ignore the latter part without the former part, hearing tabloid magazines more or less ask if he was going to be nothing but 'second-best' to 'the invincible girl' probably cut pretty deep.

"I've told you time and time again to forget about it and focus on what's meaningful, they are nothing but empty and hollow pleasures that do naught but grow stale and bitter and yet would be sought after more and more." Pallas took a sip of tea as she regarded the boy before her, she had noticed a strange cognitive dissonance with him, although he detested the girl for always being better, he alternately somehow wished to spend more time with her and the team in general for whatever reason he wanted.

"I…know that." Argent said slowly. Pallas sighed again, for all of the talent and hope for the future that the four of them could demonstrate before her, she sometimes forgot that the people she was mentoring and teaching could more often than not be little more than a bunch of angsty teenagers when the circumstances were right.

Case in point the situation she was facing now.

"And that's why…" Argent finally perked up, "is there anything at all to be done? I don't want to think about it anymore, it really stinks."

Pallas rolled her eyes, "even _I_ need my break days child, even if there was something to be done I wouldn't have asked any of you to go and do it."

"Not even a Grimm infestation to clear out?"

"If you were with the rest of them I would have considered the thought, unfortunately you are not, and I will not send you alone."

"Why not?" There was an edgy tone in Argent's voice, "I'm ready, and I can handle a few surprises."

"Yes _a few surprises_ no doubt, so I wonder what would happen if you encountered a surprise you couldn't handle?" Pallas shot back, Argent did not really have an answer for that.

"Go home Argent," Pallas waved her hand dismissively, "I'm sure you can find _something_ to do." Before Argent could speak she swiftly cut him off, "and that's final."

With a slight bow of his head, Argent walked off and out the compound, heading back to the shared apartment that the four of them lived in together ever since the famous warrior had decided to take all four of them as apprentices.

Team HYPE or Hyperion as Pallas had called them with some amusement in her voice, hunter teams were normally assigned in one of the four famous academies. In this case it would have been Haven Academy, but since the four of them were already going to be learning together as a group, Pallas had decided to just give them a name just for the heck of it, and to promote bonding in her own words.

Well the second part was not really working in Argent's opinion.

For starters', everyone's favorite champion was usually off doing something else related to her status symbol when they were not training together, either that or she was spending time helping her divorced mother as the only child in the family, Argent could respect the latter, the former he generally tried not to think about.

Then there was Ord and Haldis, the brain and the brawn basically, nominally Ord was his partner and closest friend, but the two hung out together so much that sometimes Argent just felt like he was third-wheeling his way through their relationship.

He walked on aimlessly, mostly unmindful of his surroundings as he headed back towards their apartment, he kicked off his boots, settled down on the couch and thought about his options. Pyrrha would not be back until late tonight at best, Ord and Haldis would probably come back before night fell, before the time when the Grimm were truly deadly.

 _Night time huh?_ He thought, one of the last lessons Pallas wanted to teach them was to survive at night, in the Grimm's own element.

"What's the matter?" Ren noticed and asked.

"That's…well…that's…" Arslan tried.

"Yeah…I don't…" Reese also failed.

"Whoa…when did…" Bolin was slack-jawed.

"What's going on?" Nora tilted her head.

"That's the most emotion I think anyone has ever seen Argent express since he came to Haven." Even Nadir looked rather surprised, "he's normally just rude and crass."

"Do you have any idea as to why he's that way?" Ren asked, Arslan shrugged.

"He was already like that from the moment he entered Haven, he went through initiation without getting a team and hasn't really bonded with anyone aside from the professor. It doesn't help his case of course that she sometimes plays favorites with him."

"The professor shows favoritism?" Ren's eyebrows lifted in astonishment.

"Yes, it's a little subtle though, but everyone knows it's the only way he makes it through Haven at all, it was she who asked me to allow him to join our first joint-team mission, and the foundation of our _working_ relationship." Arslan paused while the rest of ABRN nodded in agreement, "she acknowledges his attitude, but lets him get away with it as you might've noticed in our earlier meeting."

"But why would she play favorites with a person like him? I mean I get that he must be her apprentice and all but…" Nora trailed off.

"Who knows? Maybe his antics amuse her in some weird and twisted way." Reese commented.

In the meantime, the confrontation between Jaune, Ruby and Pyrrha's 'friend' continued unabated.

"Is that what she told you? That we all dumped her on the top and left her on her own? Is that what she said?" Argent ground his teeth as he glared at Ruby and Jaune.

"Who the _hell_ do you think climbed _her_ way to the top in the first place?!" Argent shouted, "who do you think outran everyone else to get there?! Who do you think shut everyone else out for her pride?! _Who do you think_ left _us_ in the dust as she became the shining champion of Mistral?!" Argent was almost gasping for air at the end.

"And…" To everyone's surprise Argent's voice suddenly went soft and was cracking, he shook his head angrily and forced it back, "and I let her go…"

"W-what do you mean?" Jaune timidly asked.

"What do you think I mean?" Argent spat, "she ran off to find her destiny when she couldn't take being in Mistral anymore, and so she ran away to Vale trying to find… find what? A change of scenery? I told her that it was folly to chase after such meaningless and hollow concepts but she wouldn't listen to me, believed that it wasn't her destiny to stay in Mistral where she could be safe and that she wanted to become a Hunter that could protect the world because she's been blessed with all those great talents and that she should use them for some actual good rather than stay in Mistral with all the glaring cameras and tabloid gossip, well where are you now Pyrrha? Are you happy that you died for nothing? Are you happy that your name will now be engraved on a memorial wall for all eternity? That you achieved limitless glory in death? That you left a divorced mother with no other children except yourself alone? ANSWER ME!" Argent ranted and raved while glaring at the sky, and finally screamed the last part out. Everyone remained silent with a few tense swallows even as Argent breathed heavily and looked straight at the ground.

"Do you know what it feels like?" His eyes did not move from their position as he looked at the ground with a solemn expression, "When your friends all go from you, and then the last one, someone you grew up with…just…ups and leaves you…" Argent finally looked up, although his eyes were unfocused and he seemed to be staring off aimlessly into nothing.

"We were supposed to attend Haven together, I thought that we could do that much in memory of our fallen friends, but she chose to go away, leaving me alone to pick up the pieces…" Argent trailed off, his demeanor had completely changed, he gave a sad and pathetic look at Ruby and Jaune, but before he could open his mouth again, another voice stopped him

"Excuse me, what's this commotion?" A man dressed in similar robes to Minerva came over the top of the hill, he had short, curly brown hair and a weathered look on his face, and he was looking dangerously at Argent.

"Oh, hey professor Delphos, it's been a while." Argent grit his teeth and turned to look at him, meanwhile everyone else remained silent, wondering what the professor was going to do.

"Who's that?" Nora whispered.

"That's professor Apollo Delphos; he's not overly fond of Argent's behavior." Arslan whispered back.

"Am I to once again assume that you are the cause of this commotion Mr. Evnooú?" Apollo gave a stern look as he descended to face them.

Argent shrugged, "and what if I am?"

"Your master is calling for you; I suggest you go to her _now_." Apollo ignored Jaune and Ruby and walked right up until he was in Argent's face.

Argent did not even flinch; instead he rolled his eyes and responded curtly, "Fine, tell her I'm on my way."

"You'll tell her yourself when you get there." Apollo hissed, so saying Argent stepped away and walked off, pushing past Team ABRN who were trying not to look at him as he went.

"Well that was-" Jaune started but was cut off by Apollo.

"I must apologize that you had to…encounter Argent like that," Apollo gave an apologetic bow, "allow me to introduce myself, Professor Apollo Delphos."

"Is he always so…" Ruby trailed off, trying to find the right word to describe him.

"Abrasive? Snide? _Unpleasant_? Melodramatic without cause?" Apollo lifted an eyebrow, "Yes he has, I would love to do more about it but Professor Pallas would have none of it, he's her favorite see?" Both Ruby and Jaune shot each other a look.

"But enough about that, I know what you're here for and why, be off now, Professor Pallas is waiting." He nodded and waved his hand at Team ABRN, who waved back.

"Let's catch up to him," Arslan said as they regrouped.

"Do we have to?" Reese questioned.

"Yeah, at least for our champion huh?" Arslan nodded. Meanwhile, Team RNJR was still thinking about the implications of what Argent had told them. Pyrrha Nikos, kind, good-hearted Pyrrha Nikos who always looked for the best in everyone, abandoning one of her own friends? And her family as well? It was almost too ridiculous to even consider, nevertheless, they began moving, following the rapidly disappearing form of Argent.

 _Then again, didn't she abandon you to chase after her destiny? Aren't you two more alike than you think?_ A voice seemed to say in Jaune's head, he desperately pushed it back into the deepest recesses of his mind.

 _No way, there's no way I'm anything like him._ Jaune thought and shook his head as he walked.

"Jaune? Are you alright?" Ruby lightly tugged at his sleeve and looked at him worriedly.

"I'm…I'm ok Rubes, it's just…" Jaune rubbed his forehead; Ruby nodded lightly and gave a weak smile.

"Yeah I know, that was intense, don't let it get to you ok?" Ruby gripped his arm a little tightly, "Pyrrha Nikos was a great person we all knew."

"Yes, I do wonder at his words though." Ren stated.

"What? How can you say that?" Ruby was indignant.

"How much did any of us know of Pyrrha anyway?" Ren asked tersely, "she never spoke much about Mistral, the only thing we know is that she hated the pedestal that others put her upon, but that's all we got _from her_." Ren noted.

"Regardless of what was or what was not," Arslan huffed, "try not to let Argent get to you too much, he's only _that_ irritating because we disturbed him a little, normally if you don't disturb him he just leaves everyone alone. You really don't want to see him get mad though."

"Why? What happens when he gets mad?

"One time a second year team tried to put him in his place, they all ended up in the infirmary badly traumatized, I wasn't there but I heard that fight was a demolition." Arslan shivered a little.

"He's absolutely ruthless when he fights, never gives you a chance, it's just a barrage of attacks until you fall over and he holds his blade at your throat," Bolin seemed to shiver a little, "it's a little scary to watch if I'm honest." His words were given nods of acknowledgement from the rest of his team.

They continued on mostly in silence, finally catching up to him as he entered the same training area where they had just been.

"Ah there you are boy, finally gotten off your ass hm?" Pallas raised her eyebrows as Argent approached with Teams RNJR and ABRN.

"Master," He greeted with a respectful nod of his head, "I suppose you've heard the news?"

"Indeed, her parents should be alerted accordingly, I will contact them and-"

"I'll do it." Argent stated, everyone gave him a strange look, even Professor Pallas seemed surprised.

"Are you sure? After all that's happened…" Pallas trailed off as she regarded her apprentice.

"Yeah, it seems only right after all." Argent looked up aimlessly.

"…I cannot ask you to do this again Argent." Pallas said stoically.

"No, but it's what I should do though," Argent shrugged.

"Will you tell her?" Argent shot her a wide-eyed look, and then tilted his head to look at the ground with a shameful expression on his face. Teams ABRN and RNJR were staring at him in shock, not all that long ago he had been spitting insults and mocking them, and here he was being shamed by his master.

"I…"

"Even now, after _she_ has passed, you still hesitate to convey your parting words?" Pallas gave him a disappointed look, sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"…I…cannot force you to give up that which you will hold back so fiercely, just know that her mother deserves to know why her only daughter chose in the end to go to Beacon, and died in a place far from her home."

"I…know…" Argent managed to force out.

"Then I shall leave you to it," And then to everyone's surprise she stepped forward and hugged him, "I know that you have only ever done that which you believed right, and I know you will continue to do so, and therefore I ask of you once and for all, to let go of the spiteful hate that you have plied all this time." Argent hesitatingly returned it.

"I'll…do my best." He gave a weak smile and both let go.

"I know you will, be off with you now, I have other matters to attend to." She exchanged a nod of understanding with Argent and he walked away, "Team ABRN you are dismissed, thank you very much for your assistance, hunters of Vale, please follow me." She nodded towards them and began moving away, they quickly followed, "I've been looking through the student records and I did find something interesting."

"So…that was a thing…" Ruby tried to strike a conversation.

Pallas laughed, "There are a great many things you and the others don't know about Argent, while I regularly reprimand him for his ways since coming to Haven and he regularly forgets them anyway. He remains dear to me and me to him, and therefore I can still leash him when I need to."

"Are you two…uh…related?" Jaune asked.

"No, we are not, but he always was –still is- my favorite apprentice, I considered he and his friend Ord to be the best students I had ever taken. He may be harsh and judgmental now, but I have few doubts that current events will force him to be someone who has the potential to change the world." Pallas smiled as they walked through hallways.

"So…Pyrrha was your apprentice?" Jaune asked hesitantly.

"Pyrrha Nikos…now there is an interesting subject to broach to me, am I to assume you two are… _were_ close?" Pallas raised an eyebrow.

"Well…I…" Jaune thought back to the kiss, but pushed that away, "I was her team leader, and partner." He finally said.

"I see, well I am sorry for your loss."

"It's fine…I've…I've moved on."

Pallas gave a look that said; _no you haven't_ but did not press the issue.

"May I ask why he is your favorite? Pyrrha Nikos was his better wasn't she?" Ren asked.

"She was, and indeed Pyrrha Nikos is an _exceptionally_ _skilled fighter,_ a symbol of all of Mistral and an embodiment of all the hopes of her generation, I would dare venture to say that she is a 'once in a generation' prodigy blessed with incredible talent." Pallas nodded sagely, "However…" She paused in her step and turned to look at them.

"That's all she is and that's all she ever would have been were she still with us. An incredible symbol of hope and strength, but…" Pallas paused and gave a rather dark look, "we have enough of those already." She resumed walking.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"I will explain another time, but here we are." She nodded as she opened a door with some words on it.

 _DEPUTY HEADMISTRESS MINERVA_

"Do excuse the mess," She stepped over some sheets of paper on the floor, "I have been rather busy of late with the absence of headmaster Artemis Orion, and I have no idea where that imbecile is…" She growled out as she gathered something up from the floor and chucked it onto her desk.

"So now…" She stumbled her way to the chair behind the desk, with Team RNJR following until they stood in front of said desk as she settled down into her chair, "what about these conspirators who _dared_ to masquerade as one of my students?"

RNJR gave her as much information as they could, Ruby relating everything she could remember since her fight with Roman Torchwick, all the information she knew and that her uncle Qrow had given her about the "queen" and her "pawns", throughout this Pallas listened intently, gently nodding along and taking notes on a notepad. Finally, Ruby had finished up until the point at which they had left Vale to come to Mistral.

"Hm…" Pallas tapped her pen against her notepad, "Cinder Fall huh?" She thought as she gave a grim look, "who did you say you got all this information from?"

"Qrow Branwen, he's my uncle." Ruby explained.

"Oh," Pallas dryly replied and muttered something that none of RNJR could hear as she bent down, opened a cabinet and started fiddling with something, they waited for a moment before she popped back up with a large folder.

"No Cinder Fall I'm afraid, they're probably using some kind of pseudonym, how many of them were there?" She asked as she looked through it.

"We aren't sure to be honest; we only know Cinder was the head of the whole operation." Pallas furrowed her brow in irritation.

"Well that doesn't exactly narrow it down, I'll try to see if I can a list of all the latest entrants within the last year or so, from there you can try to narrow it down from their pictures, you do know what she looks like right?" Ruby nodded affirmatively, it was hard to forget to face of the person who killed one of your friends in front of you.

"Right, I'll try to get a record with profiles set up so that you can look at it, in the meantime, is there anything you'd like to ask me?" Pallas clasped her hands together on her desk and looked at all of them, all of them gave each other a knowing nod, but before any of them could respond, Pallas spoke for them.

"No doubt you have many questions for me regarding your recently deceased partner and her rival…" Pallas sighed and leaned back with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Let us then tell the tale," She said as though reading from a story book, "Let us tell the tale of four warriors, each of them a representation of the best their generation could achieve. Joined together through strength and ability and thought, only to be pulled apart and cast down by their own folly."


End file.
